Lord Waheed Alli

"Millionaire Waheed Alli, given a life peerage at the age of 34 in 1998, became the youngest and first openly gay peer in Parliament, and a man that Prime Minister Tony Blair believed could help him reach out to a younger generation...

"Lord Alli was seen as the antithesis of the stereotypical "establishment" peer - young, Asian and from the world of media and entertainment...

"In the mid-1980s Alli, living in fashionable Islington, got a job in the City and began earning big money.

"But he got bored of investment banking and formed a television production company with Charlie Parsons, a rising star of television.

"They teamed up with Bob Geldof in 1992 to form Planet 24 Productions, and through a series of shrewd deals - including their audacious win of Channel Four's breakfast slot - made a lot of money."

"He is a co-director of Castaway Television Productions, which controls all aspects of the "Survivor" format sales worldwide, and all its ancillary businesses...

"He is also a director of Shine Limited an independent production company formed with Elizabeth Murdoch, and Chairman of Chorion PLC an intellectual rights owner, and a non-exec director of other businesses.

"In 1998 he was appointed as a working Labour peer, and is active in The House of Lords.

"He is also a trustee of The Elton John Aids Foundation, and vice president of UNICEF."